ALEX Kapranos has revealed he cooked up a recipe for his band’s success in the kitchen of a Glasgow restaurant.

The Franz Ferdinand frontman and bassist Bob Hardy both fantasised about the ingredients that would make up the perfect pop group while working at Groucho Saint Judes, close to the city’s art school.

Alex, 31, said: “Bob had never played an instrument in his life at that point.

“He was still at art school and doing the dishes in the evenings. I was doing the starters and the desserts.

“While the last couple in the restaurant were having their romantic night and were taking their time over whether to have the chocolate pudding or the cheese plate or petit fours, me and Bob would sit there in the kitchen, glum as anything, wishing they would hurry up and order.

“But during those times we would sit and play each other music and talk about what it would be like if we got this hypothetical band together and things we would write about.

The band shot to fame two years later with their self-titled debut album, featuring hits such as Take Me Out and Jacqueline.

In 2005, You Could Have It So Much Better followed. But it was four more years before their third album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. Now the band have completed their brilliant new album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, recorded at home and abroad.

It is released on August 26 and the band play a one-off date at Glasgow’s QMU next Wednesday.

“We did a lot of it at my place in the Borders and some of the writing was done at Nick’s place in London,” Alex said of the new long player.

“He has Sausage Studios and my place is called Black Pudding. Between the two of us we have the full breakfast.

“We recorded one-and-a-half songs at Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn & John’s beautiful studio in Stockholm, which used to be owned by Abba’s old label, Polar Records.

The band also worked at Club Ralph, a London studio that uses a unique custom-built 56 channel analogue console, built in 1974 by German record producer Conny Plank and used to record classic albums by the likes of Kraftwerk, Neu, Can, Brian Eno and Eurythmics.

“We did a lot of the mixing down there and we had a lot of fun getting the sounds together,” Alex said.

Asked why it has taken four years away from the public eye to return, Alex admitted: “It seems a long time but we decided that we wanted to be away. We made a deliberate decision because if you are being creative, it is best to do it without being scrutinised, otherwise you mess it up. It’s like being a kid and being able to do 20 keepie-ups until somebody is watching you.

“You see, in my personal life, I am not really that much of an extrovert.

“On stage I am a total extrovert. I want 20,000 eyes upon me.

“Outside of that, I’m not shy but I’m not an extrovert. I’m not a celebrity. I’m a guy in a band. It’s different.”

Alex is keen to point out that he isn’t complaining about his life.

He said: “Back 13 years ago, when I was working as a chef at Grouchos and Bob was the kitchern porter, if I had a copy of the Daily Record and showed it to Bob that some band was complaining about their life or how tired they were, we would have had a good laugh about it.

“Because they would have nothing to moan about. This is a great life so there is no way I’m going to complain but, from a creative sense, certain things interfere with your creativity.

“Those things are being away or talking about yourself all the time. If you are going to write good songs, you need to draw on real experiences and relationships. You have to have a bit of real life.”

The first single from the album is the brilliant Love Illumination and the band have already filmed a promo for Evil Eye with Diane Martel, who directed Robin Thicke’s video for Blurred Lines and Franz’s Do You Want To.

In the meantime, Paul made a record with Scottish indie outfit Correcto. Nick released an album with his art-rockers Box Codax.

He also scored a production of The Tempest staged in Berlin and London.

Alex involved himself in production duties for artists including RM Hubbert’s Thirteen Lost & Found, this year’s Scottish Album of the Year winner.

“A lot of Hubby’s album was recorded at my studio and we did some of it at Chem 19 in Glasgow,” Alex said.

“It was amazing that Hubby won and I was so chuffed for him.”

“I am very happy that the SAY Award now exists because, in Scotland as a whole, we have a disproportionately powerful musical presence in the world. This award is acknowledging what is going on around us.”

Having been given an advance copy of Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, it will be a stick-on for next year’s awards short-list.

“If we make the long-list, I would appreciate it,” Alex said, grinning.